BEST LAID PLANS

SYNOPSIS:
Things don't seem to be going so well for Nick (Alessandro Nivola). Hoping to leave small
town Tropico once and for all on the back of his inheritance, Nick is disappointed to find
that the father he nursed through his dying days left nothing but massive debt. Trapped in
his meaningless job at a recycling plant and about to be evicted, Nick thinks he has
reached rock bottom. That is until old friend Bryce (Josh Brolin) shows up for a drunken
night in a bar and a call later on that night - he's gotten himself into some serious
trouble with a girl (Reese Witherspoon) at the bar …

"The plans for Best Laid plans were perhaps, too well laid. Here is a script that
reeks of student aspirations. There is a real sense that writer Ted Griffin (Ravenous) has
set out to make a movie in the spirit of Usual Suspects with a touch of Pulp Fiction
thrown in and a final scene with a hint of The Way We Were. Post Modernism at its most
studied. But there's the problem. There are so many twists and turns in the plot that it
feels like an attempt at a clever script. The twists and turns are not so much predictable
as: who cares? Perhaps the fault is not all in the script but also in the characters or
the casting. The two male leads are shallow and quite unlikeable. Their motivation for
their individual actions is totally self-centred and, while they don't need to be solving
the problem of world hunger, there does need to be some reason for us to care about them.
Credibility is further diminished by the misogynist presentation of the female lead, Lissa
(Reese Witherspoon in another solid performance). Why she would make the choices she does
is so unjustified that it is nothing short of male fantasy. British director, Mike Barker
(Silent Witness) has not made the Atlantic crossing well and may have been better served
setting this story in an English town with local actors. Perhaps that may have provided
more depth … or quirkiness … or something. It certainly needed something."Lee Gough

"Best Laid Plans is a film noir; its darkness sadly rests in its gruesome
mistreatment of the female protagonist. A self-aware thriller replete with plot twists and
surprises, it seems unaware of its ultimate message - that women can be used as pawns in
men’s power games. The sugar coated ending, intended to hint at some form of
redemption, is mysogynistic at its core. To say too much would ruin the element of
surprise which does sustain a level of interest. This is unfortunately muted by the
over-indulgence in shock tactics. One of the best thrillers of recent years, The Usual
Suspects, was successful because the performances were gripping. The actors played their
roles as if every plot twist was also a revelation to them. Unfortunately, the same cannot
be said here. With the possible exception of Reese Witherspoon’s hapless Lissa, the
performances are so weighed down by the secrets that will ultimately be revealed that
characterisation is lacking. As Bryce, Josh Brolin plays the typical arrogant
‘jock’ without a hint of the intelligence one would expect from a college
academic. His friendship with Nick lacks any chemistry, which causes the very theme of
betrayal of trust to lose resonance. The characters go through so many changes it seems
they have forgotten who they are. And ultimately we don’t care about them; they are
merely the vehicles around which the plot is designed and hidden traps revealed. The Usual
Suspects left audiences gasping for air, desperate to go straight back in to the cinema to
see it again. Best Laid Plans packs more of a light, unsatisfying prod."Angie Fox